Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries, has refused to commit to a digital radio switchover date, saying that the decision will not be made until 2013.

Talking in London at the annual Intellect technology conference, the event where Vaizey first announced the digital radio switchover action plan a year ago, he said: “We will make the decision [about digital radio switchover] in 2013 whether we will go ahead in 2015 or delay.

“I don’t think it [the date] affects the consumer because obviously the consumer is free now to buy digital radios, and also all digital radios have FM capabilities as well.”

Digital radio switchover will see all major radio stations transfer away from FM to DAB only. The FM signal will not be switched off but used by smaller stations and community radio groups.

Vaizey denied that switchover, which is greatly hampered by the need to have digital radios fitted in all vehicles, both old and new, was behind schedule, but stopped short of committing the Government to pressing ahead with it in 2015, the switchover date set by the Brown administration.

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“We want to get into the position where we can be certain about the date for switchover. We have said that 2013 is the right time to take that decision to give you [the radio industry] time if you [the radio industry] do go for a 2015 switchover to make that happen.”

Currently 26.5 per cent of all radio listening is conducted digitally through mix of the web, DAB and digital TV. However, DAB, which the Government has prioritised as the next generation platform in the Digital Economy Act, only accounts for around 16 per cent of total radio listening.

The Government has said that 50 per cent of all listening must be conducted digitally before switchover can begin to happen.

James Cridland, senior radio consultant and former BBC Radio digital executive, thinks the Government will have to announce a clear update soon.

“I think realistically Ed Vaizey will have to have to come out soon and say that the Government may not hit the 2013 target of getting digital listening to 50 per cent. The question is when does it become politically sensible to admit the industry may fall short of its targets? Digital radio switchover will happen but there is a consensus [among the radio industry] that it’s going to be a real stretch to hit the Government’s deadline.”

He told The Telegraph: “Digital is no doubt the future of radio and we support this fully and completely, but we still strongly feel, as we have from the beginning, that we should not try to force the issue onto the consumer and that we should look at ways of getting our industry into a ‘digital ready state’, responsibly and honestly, regardless of how long it takes.

“We would do well to remember that following the launch of FM, it took over 20 years to become the mainstream format that we know and love today.”

Vaizey said that there had been some progress is moving towards the digital radio switchover, with 14 per cent of new cars now having a DAB radio installed as standard.

He also praised the BBC and commercial radio sector for having launched Radioplayer, a new web player which offers listeners more than 300 UK radio stations in one place earlier this year. He said that digital only content had been improved by the BBC’s rebranding of Radio 7 to Radio 4 Extra and the addition of new digital only station, such as Absolute 90s.

However, he said although the changes represented good progress, the moves were “not yet transformational”.

A funding agreement has yet to be reached between the broadcasters and the radio multiplex operators as to how DAB can be built out to the current FM coverage standards. Nor has a timetable for the extended coverage build-out been drawn up.

“I think we have achieved a lot against our ambitions for radio but obviously there is still a lot more to do,” Vaizey said.

“We are still on course for a decision on switchover in 2013…Hopefully [by then] every radio sold by major retailers will have digital radio capability and the content proposition will continue to improve.”